Connecting with Coverage: LGBT Communities and the ACA

1. Connecting with Coverage: LGBT Communities and the ACA

2. 9 Million LGBT Americans = ? Source: The Williams Institute

3. Examples of LGBT Health Disparities • Tobacco use • Depression • Breast cancer • Experiences of violence • HIV/AIDS infection ⬇ Insurance coverage Source: The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People (Institute of Medicine, 2011), Healthy People 2020

4. Source: www.calbuzz.com

5. Coverage for Low/Middle-Income LGBT Among LGBT people with annual incomes under 400% FPL Source: Center for American Progress

6. Among LGBT people with annual incomes under 400% FPL Source: Center for American Progress

7. Non-LGBT population Among LGBT people with annual incomes under 400% FPL Source: Center for American Progress

8. “I don’t have insurance…and I’m somewhat un-hireable in a lot of ways, so it’s hard to find a job, a decent job that has insurance.” “Nobody wanted to talk about it…we got the runaround for at least three or four months. So finally I was like, okay, you know what? I’m fine, I’m living, I’m not dying, I’ll survive, we’ll figure out something else later. You kind of give up.” “We [LGBT people] are the group that they don’t talk about. Or the group that they don’t want to talk about.” Among LGBT people with annual incomes under 400% FPL Source: Center for American Progress

9. LGBT State Exchanges Project • Launched at the Center for American Progress in Jan 2012. • Mission: To ensure that new coverage options under the ACA are accessible to LGBT individuals and their families.

10. But LGBT people don’t know about their new coverage options. Knows about the mandate: Knows about new coverage options: 64% 29% Among LGBT people with annual incomes under 400% FPL Source: Center for American Progress

11. Out2Enroll is here to help! Rainbow widget by Enroll America

12. Our mission: To educate LGBT community members about their new coverage options under the ACA. Federal Agencies Project

13. www.out2enroll.org

14. Photo credit: One Colorado

15. Source: The White House, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

18. Source: Health Care for All NY

21. Don’t make assumptions about applicants: • Gender or gender identity • Preferred name or gender pronoun • Sexual orientation • Relationship status • HIV/AIDS status • Health services that the person may need • When in doubt, politely ask rather than guessing. • Simply apologize and move on in case of a mistake. “[Navigators] just have to be told very clearly…[you’re] not here to go, like, umm, oh, my God, what do I do? Just, this is the kind of person that will be calling in. A human.” Source: Adapted from the Center for American Progress and the LGBT Task Force of the New York State Healthcare for All New York Campaign

22. Thank you! Kellan Baker kbaker@americanprogress.org www.out2enroll.org www.americanprogress.org